BlackBerry Tablet OS

We just read over on Inside BlackBerry that the BlackBerry PlayBook has been updated to BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7.3312. This update address the Adobe Flash Player issue noted by Adobe last month in in Adobe Security Bulletin APSB-11-26.

This update to the BlackBerry PlayBook is not Tablet OS 2.0 which we should get a preview of later this month at BlackBerry DevCon.

It looks like BlackBerry Bridge, the application that allows you to Bluetooth tether your BlackBerry smartphone to your BlackBerry PlayBook, has been updated to v1.0.6.5. If past history is at all indicative of what is going to happen next, an update to BlackBerry Tablet OS, the software that runs on the BlackBerry PlayBook, is imminent.

So, it would appear that with the updates to BlackBerry Bridge v1.0.5.6 and BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7.2942, third party BlackBerry PlayBook apps now have the ability to connect to the internet via BlackBerry Bridge in the absence of a WiFi internet connection. I tested this on multiple BlackBerry PlayBook apps including Facebook, Poynt, GeeReeder, and BlackBerry news and they all appeared to work even though the connection seems to be extremely slow.

Research in Motion today announced via the Inside BlackBerry Developers Blog that it has launched the BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS Closed Beta targeting game developers who want to create games for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The Native SDK will enable developers to create rich and compelling games for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet using C/C++, the Standard Template Library (STL) and Open GL ES 1.1/2.0.

With the release of BlackBerry Bridge v1.0.5.6 we figured that it would just be a matter of time before the BlackBerry PlayBook would receive an update as well. A matter of time turned out to be just several hours as BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7.2942 has been released.

BlackBerry Bridge v1.0.5.6 is currently being rolled out in BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry Bridge, of course, is the application which allows you to pair your BlackBerry PlayBook with your BlackBerry smartphone. Updates to BlackBerry Bridge have, in the past, been precursors to updates of BlackBerry Tablet OS, so, it will be interesting to see if the BlackBerry PlayBook gets an OS update with the next couple of days…

BlackBerry Tablet OS 1.0.7.2670 for the BlackBerry PlayBook has been released and is now available for download. This version comes just one day after Tablet OS 1.0.7.2650 was pulled after being available for just hours because of BlackBerry Bridge connection issues.

Research in Motion has ceased downloads of BlackBerry Tablet OS 1.0.7.2650 for the BlackBerry PlayBook because of reported connectivity issues with BlackBerry Bridge, which, was recently updated to v1.0.4.9. According to the official @BlackBerry Twitter account, RIM expects to release an update with a fix later this week.

We knew that after BlackBerry Bridge 1.0.4.9 was released in BlackBerry App World an updated OS for the BlackBerry PlayBook was imminent. With that being said, the roll out of BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7.2650 has begun. The new BlackBerry PlayBook OS doesn’t appear to be available to all just yet, but, it is just a matter of time before it will be.

BlackBerry Bridge has been updated to v1.0.4.9 and is now available in BlackBerry App World. Rumors that the next version of the BlackBerry Tablet Os for the BlackBerry PlayBook would be released soon have been floating around for several days now, and, and it appears that an update is now imminent.